The issue with Embiid no longer concerns toughness or desire or heart. He has played through pain all postseason, and he has played mostly without relief in the second half the last two games.

The issue solely concerns effectiveness.

When the going gets tough, Embiid gets going ... home. Sure, he’s been injured a lot in postseasons, but he has never begun an NBA season in game shape, and injuries tend to find guys like that.

Anyway, it’s always something, right? A knee, a hand, an eye, an upset tummy. This year it’s a bad knee, Bell’s palsy, and, Tuesday morning, a raging migraine. He seems soooo very unlucky ... or so very unwilling.

It’s amazing that Hakeem Olajuwon and Shaquille O’Neal, the players with whom he most often is compared, never seemed to get sick, or hurt, or all headachy in the playoffs.

Or did they, and we just never heard about it?

Olajuwon always rose to the occasion. He was 19-13 in elimination games, including 8-0 when the Rockets won the title in 1994 and 1995. He’s a legend for a reason.

Shaq, however, had issues. He was 6-12 in elimination games, but, more accurately, he was 5-10 before he became a part-time player at the end of his career.

He even began 1-6, just like Embiid.

Except, unlike Embiid, even in defeat, Shaq showed up.

He averaged 26.8 points in his first 15 elimination games, about one point more than his regular-season average to that point. He shot 57.7%, about the same as his regular-season mark. He pulled down 10.7 rebounds, about one board less than his regular-season average, but he turned the ball over just 2.9 times both in elimination games and in the regular season.

If you contend that Embiid never had a Kobe Bryant or Dwyane Wade like Shaq did, that’s fair as long as we’re talking about the winning and losing. But the stats indicate that Embiid is one of the biggest reasons why they’re losing, not winning.

As for his limitations, well, he dropped 50 in Game 3. He tends to limp as the game progresses, but the limp disappears in the locker room after the game. In fact, he was in full trot when he ran away from the media after Game 1 — the game in which he left the court in the second quarter after landing hard on his left leg.

He dramatically iced his knee for about one minute Tuesday night, the minute he spent on the bench in the second half. It seemed performative.

Again: Embiid is playing hurt, and he’s playing hard.

Again: So what?

He gets paid to play hurt, and hard.

He also gets paid to carry his team to wins when there is no tomorrow.

Thursday would be a fine time to start earning all those millions.